Pitch Presentation

Music Video Feedback

Response to feedback

A point came up where one of my class mates mentioned how are we going to deal with the low light in the forest because of the trees on top covering the natural light. I have been to forests many times and create a series of photographs and even though the lighting is dimmer than in an open space it depends on what time of day you can in. From my experience coming in the morning when the sun has just risen is a good time because the lighting creates a nice warm colour which gives the video a summery atmosphere. Also on a sunny day during the afternoon when the sun is at its highest point, thats when you get the best sort of light. Also playing around with the camera settings, for example bumping up the ISO on the camera. However not too high because then the image has noise and doesnt look visually attractive.

Another point that came up is how the narrative develops. The song isnt narrative based, it just has montages of flashbacks because the lyrics is about love and wanting to love someone.

The last point was how are we going to create a point of view shot in the forest when hand held video will make it look cheap. I was thinking we either just have a simple shot of the girl in the forest, or i can purchase a glide cam. Even though it is pricey the investment would be good for me to use in other projects.

Combination of ideas

In today's lesson my group and I decided to assign some of the treatment bulletpoints between the group so all of our ideas are able to combine together. We also came up with some more ideas which we can use in the music video, we done this by looking at other videos and taking small things. E.g Shots, Editing, mise en scene ect...

IDEAS

Today during our lesson we managed to look at some music videos of songs that inspire us, and we took sections which we'd like to recreate in our own video. The locations that we have thought about are Forest, Studio, Abandoned shed in a forest and also a place that is full of graffiti.

Video ideas : 

BANKS - Fuck With Myself

Selena Gomez - Kill em with kindness

Justin Bieber - Ill show you 

Cadet - Letter To Krept

Adele - Hello Cover Video

Adele - Hello Cover from Juste Semenaite on Vimeo.

As a group we worked very well because we were all able to take all of our ideas and combine it into one, whether it was during the shooting process or the editing process. My role was being the main singer because no one from my group wanted to do it (I took one for the team) However. at the same time i gave them some direction in terms of how to change the settings o the camera to change the lighting and so on. I think our strengths in the lip sync video was that we were able to use a variety of angles to give the entire video some diversity and also it made the video visually stimulating to look at. Our weakness in the video was that during the editing process in some clips we weren't able to match up the song with the video, which is clearly seen in our end result. I have learnt a lot about the editing programme we are going to be using for our music video. Whilst editing i looked at other settings and effects i could use for my own video. Overall it was good practice for me because i got use to working in a group and also i learnt to work in a fast pace.

Eminem - Not Afraid

The whole song/video is based on being stuck in that 'place' which is a state where you're depressed and possibly abusing drugs (based on Eminem's history). This video is mostly performance based even though it was establishing shots to give an overview of his surroundings. The New York city landscape could be representing how small he felt when he was in that 'place'. However now he is on top of a high building feeling good about what he has accomplished. Also it shows that he has a lot of power.

There  were a lot of tracking shots of him walking through the city, they used the tracking shots to keep up with his pace and still be able to see the surrounding area. There were also panning shots to catch the speed of him flying and to show that he has the power to face his demons and hold his crown up high.

The 'place' that he is referring to is the basement where he does half of his performance. The low key lighting in the basement gives the scene an ominous effect. The basement scene from this video is something i would like to incorporate in my own music video because the brick walls and old furniture  giving it a run down look.

I like the whole idea of the city scape and standing on top of a high building. That type of establishing shot makes the lead singer look like he has a lot of power.

The genre of this song by Eminem is rap, I know this due to some of the elements in the video eg. Costume. In one of the screen shots Eminem is wearing a chain around his neck and a black vest, this is typical clothing worn in a rap music video. Also in one of the other screen shot I noticed a patern within the clothing, because he wears black throughout the whole video. Which also fits the conventions of a typical rap video because you wont see bright colours being worn in a rap video. Another factor that tells you the genre is the performance and body language, he tends to throw his hands towards the camera whilst he is rapping and keeping eye contact with the camera.

The main in this music in two main ones, which is the city scape and the shots of him in a dark basement. The reason there was a shot of him in the basement was because it was a representation of him being poor and where he started from to get where he is now. Where he is now would be the city scape shot showing how tall he feels and how far he has come in life. This also fits with generic conventions because rap is associated with gangs and run down streets. The director chose to set the video in multiple environments because does it not only keep the audience entertained but also tells a story. One of the main props in this music video is the piece of paper he throws towards the camera, this is used to show what he used to work with when he was just starting off his rap career or just practicing in the basement. A simple prop like this can really give an atmosphere to the whole scene because if you're a fan of Eminem you'd understand what it meant. Towards the end of the video Eminem starts flying which is not very conventional when it comes to rap music videos. They did these special effects to indicate the power that he has over the whole city and how far he has come in life. However when he is walking through the street he seems very inferior and people are barging his shoulders like they have no respect for him. Throughout the whole video Eminem is the main focus which is very normal for rap videos. Also because in stereotypical rap songs they rap about their life so they have to focus the camera on them as if they are telling their life story.

In this video i liked the establishing shots because they gave the video a certain super human atmosphere/theme. Also the dark basement is very effective in videos where the meaning of the song is very deep and has more depth. From this video I would like to use to idea of the far wide shots showing the main singer and also showing the city behind him. Another idea I have about my video was taken from this video, which is having jump cuts to him rapping but then create a narrative story where he's just walking. In essence having certain scenes of him singing but then cutting to ones where it shows him in a real life situation. 

BANKS - Brain (Official Video)

 The whole video is based on the idea that some people work to hard to fit in with the crowd and are afraid to speak their own opinion. Most of the meaning is heard in the lyrics and not in the video because it is conceptual and more abstract based. It is conceptual to attract a certain audience to her video, the target audience are teenagers who have an alternative/urban style to what clothes they wear, music they listen to and brand they buy. The music video has parts which have rippling effects as if the artist is looking at a reflection of herself in a pool of water. This links to the song of trying to be who you are not just to fit into society when you should really be looking at yourself and what makes you happy.

Again when the artist is looking at herself in the pool the camera is pointing down to show a point of view shot. The video has very rapid cuts which match to the fast pace of the music. The fast cuts mostly consist of abstract images which could contain subliminal messages that only the director knows about. From this video I am going to use the low key studio lighting to create an ominous effect and get the message from the lyrics across. There were certain parts in the video where they show a dessert which represents her being alone and unwanted even though she is trying to fit in. They also have quick jump cuts almost making the whole video look surreal and nightmare like. The lead singer puts a dark veil over her head almost as if she is getting married. However the whole dark atmosphere of the video, with the dull colours, abstract shapes makes her look dead and soulless inside.

I like the quick jump cuts from the video because it gave the video a nice eerie look which is something that i am aiming for. Also the abstract shapes (reflections) makes the video look very conceptual and interesting to watch. I want to do the same, i want to be able to catch the attention of my audience and make the video entertaining but at the same time interesting.

BANKS - Beggin For Thread (Official Music Video)

This whole video is black and white which is a continuing theme when it comes to the artist Banks making a music video. The director used close up shots of the dancers partially naked bodies in order to give the video an abstract look. They also used a hair light behind Banks the main singer in order to give the illusion that the singer is performing this on stage. The camera movements are very rapid and very hard to keep up with which is what makes this video so interesting to look at because your eyes are trying to follow as many things as possible at once. When the singer says "I've got some dirt on my shoes" a person behind her grabs her neck, this could indicate that by dirt on her shoes shes referring to blood on her hands. To contract the fast camera movements they put the video in slow motion at times to really capture all the detail of the dancers bodies and to also give it slow time effect.

During the middle/end there is a man covered in red powder which could have a deeper meaning of blood and murder. The partially naked dancers are all in fact motion however the man covered in red is only shown in slow motion, this puts the attention on him instead of the other dancers. They used  lot of powder in the video, the powder is thrown around when the dancers do a big movement. This gives the video a very ghostly effect, as if those dancers are dead. At the end of the video there was a white horse that raised is front legs, the horse had a striking resemblance to the dancers because they were covered in white powder and coincidently the horse was also white and filmed in slow motion.

From this video I loved seeing the white powder being thrown around the complement the dancers movement. Also when it has a spotlight on the dancers the white powder really stands out which is something I want to include in my own video.